Andy Warhol is the closest thing the art market has to a commodity investment. He has an iconic and instantly recognizable name and oeuvre, he was prolific in his output, and his works are sold at auction frequently, often at dizzying prices.

According to artprice, he was the world's third best-selling artist in terms of total auction revenue in 2011, after two Chinese artists, Zhang Daqian and Qi Baishi. Fetching a hammer price of $33 million, his Double Elvis was also the sixth most expensive art work sold at auction in the first half of 2012. Given that the sale prices fetched for many of his silk screens keep going up, he presents a compelling argument for those who see the investment potential in art.

One of the biggest questions about the tremendous success of Warhol in the auction market is whether the global appeal of his pop iconography has pushed up prices so dramatically or whether it is just that so many Andy Warhols come up for auction every year, they represent one of the most liquid parts of the art market.

The announcement yesterday that The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is going to sell over 20,000 Warhol works through Christie's is sure to test the liquidity theory. The foundation hopes to raise over $100 million by selling off its whole stock of Warhol silk screen paintings, prints, drawings, collages and photos.

It seems pretty astonishing that the foundation set up in his name would flood the market with Andy Warhols. Sure, Christie's says it will release this vast inventory incrementally, through a series of physical auctions and online sales, over several years. But it is planning to auction off some 350 of the most valuable works in one sale on November 12. Highlights will include Three Targets, a 19-foot-long silkscreen produced near the end of Warhol's career, which is expected to fetch up to $1.5 million, and a red Jackie, a screen print and paper collage from 1960 expected to fetch up to $300,000.

That could present a problem for anyone else planning to sell a Warhol during the fall auction season. Sotheby's sale of Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints in London on September 19 features no less than 24 Warhol prints in just one auction, including three prints inspired by Edvard Munch's The Scream, which broke all auction records when it sold for $119.9 million this year. Warhol's1966 canvas ofMarlon Brando on a motorcycle was expected to fetch around $20 million when it is sold at Christie's this November. Will it now?

Perhaps prices will stay buoyant. After all, the works the foundation is selling are mostly lower value items, so may not upset demand for Warhol's most coveted paintings like Marlon. Christie's also believes that online auctions will reach Warhol fans that would never normally have access to his works.

It's true that online sales have fetched large sums for Warhol works before and perhaps seasoned and new collectors will jump at the last chance to buy works that have never been seen before directly from the Warhol foundation, where the provenance of the work is assured.